D841 Roebuck
Established Member
March 2008, the days are getting longer, Spring is in the air. Time for a bash then!
Looking through the interweb, there is a Diesel Gala at the MNR, a railtour (The Choppington Changer) doing some nice freighty bits of track, and cheapish Travelodges availble at Ely and Norwich. So the mysterious and inscrutable east was the chosen destination, and tickets and accomodaton duly booked.
Day 1 - Thursday
A lunchtime departure from Castleton, the alarmingly banal 142044 is suffered for the short ride to Manchester Victoria. Crossing to the tram platforms, the first service to appear is Western Hero, bound for Altrincham. So the GMEX/Deansgate route to Stockport was taken, with 156480 on a Buxton service giving me some unexpected new track - Platform 0 at the latter.
Time for a winner now, and 185102 obliges on the 1:328 to Sheffield, via the rather pleasant Hope Valley route.
From here, my East Mids Rover becomes valid so I position myself for some new track. WYPTE exile 158907 provides better than expected comfort for the short leap to Worksop whence, after a longish fester, 156405 is a comfortable enough steed for the new-to-me track down to Nottingham - so comfortable I succumbed to 40 winks in the vicinity of Mansfield. From here 222009 - much nicer than a Voyager, was my thought at the time - whisked me briskly to Leicester.
Here, I had a 50 minute wait for my onward connection, so half contemplated a pint to pass the time. However when I left the station for a smoke inspiration struck - and I dived into the adjacent barbers for a pleasant 20 minute trim from a nice young lass with a glowering boyfriend muttering in the background.
I still had time for a beer, and then failed to note the number of the unit on to Peterborough - new track Syston South Jc to Wennington Jc.
Changing here, 158866 was my final unit of the day to Ely. A hike round the ring road took me to the Travelodge.
(More to follow, but typing on a phone is a PITA - the acronyom rather than the kebab holder!)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Day 2 - Friday
Up reasonably early for a sunny walk through Ely, a rather scenic sort of place. It must have been quite impressive in the middle ages, particularly in winter with the cathedral rising above the flooded fens.
Required-for-sight 66104 was the first thing to appear at Ely station, where a coffee was acquired. Then 170271 was boarded for the shortish trip to Wymondham. Enroute, I noticed boats were for hire at, I think, Brandon - I hadn't realised the river there was navigable.
Arriving at the smart and tidy Wymondham, I made the mistake of trusting to instinct rather than maps, and turned left out of the station. The resultant hike down country lanes to Abbey station meant I missed a train and had a longish wait before 31438 turned up to take me on the first of three round trips to Dereham.
This was my first visit to the MNR, which I found to be a most pleasant and well organised railway, with the lack of any sign of steam engines making it a completely different experience to other heritage lines.
31235 and 37038 were duly scooped in, and then the sensible route was taken back to Wymondham (NR) - via the town centre and a pint! 158865 was the steed for the return to Ely, where I had a couple more beers, watched part of a gig by the impressively named "Fen Boy Three" (pretty decent band) then found myself an Indian restaurant for my default meal of samosas, chicken vindaloo and Naan bread. A taxi was taken back to the Travelodge, and a car was prebooked for the earlier start the next day.
Looking through the interweb, there is a Diesel Gala at the MNR, a railtour (The Choppington Changer) doing some nice freighty bits of track, and cheapish Travelodges availble at Ely and Norwich. So the mysterious and inscrutable east was the chosen destination, and tickets and accomodaton duly booked.
Day 1 - Thursday
A lunchtime departure from Castleton, the alarmingly banal 142044 is suffered for the short ride to Manchester Victoria. Crossing to the tram platforms, the first service to appear is Western Hero, bound for Altrincham. So the GMEX/Deansgate route to Stockport was taken, with 156480 on a Buxton service giving me some unexpected new track - Platform 0 at the latter.
Time for a winner now, and 185102 obliges on the 1:328 to Sheffield, via the rather pleasant Hope Valley route.
From here, my East Mids Rover becomes valid so I position myself for some new track. WYPTE exile 158907 provides better than expected comfort for the short leap to Worksop whence, after a longish fester, 156405 is a comfortable enough steed for the new-to-me track down to Nottingham - so comfortable I succumbed to 40 winks in the vicinity of Mansfield. From here 222009 - much nicer than a Voyager, was my thought at the time - whisked me briskly to Leicester.
Here, I had a 50 minute wait for my onward connection, so half contemplated a pint to pass the time. However when I left the station for a smoke inspiration struck - and I dived into the adjacent barbers for a pleasant 20 minute trim from a nice young lass with a glowering boyfriend muttering in the background.
I still had time for a beer, and then failed to note the number of the unit on to Peterborough - new track Syston South Jc to Wennington Jc.
Changing here, 158866 was my final unit of the day to Ely. A hike round the ring road took me to the Travelodge.
(More to follow, but typing on a phone is a PITA - the acronyom rather than the kebab holder!)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Day 2 - Friday
Up reasonably early for a sunny walk through Ely, a rather scenic sort of place. It must have been quite impressive in the middle ages, particularly in winter with the cathedral rising above the flooded fens.
Required-for-sight 66104 was the first thing to appear at Ely station, where a coffee was acquired. Then 170271 was boarded for the shortish trip to Wymondham. Enroute, I noticed boats were for hire at, I think, Brandon - I hadn't realised the river there was navigable.
Arriving at the smart and tidy Wymondham, I made the mistake of trusting to instinct rather than maps, and turned left out of the station. The resultant hike down country lanes to Abbey station meant I missed a train and had a longish wait before 31438 turned up to take me on the first of three round trips to Dereham.
This was my first visit to the MNR, which I found to be a most pleasant and well organised railway, with the lack of any sign of steam engines making it a completely different experience to other heritage lines.
31235 and 37038 were duly scooped in, and then the sensible route was taken back to Wymondham (NR) - via the town centre and a pint! 158865 was the steed for the return to Ely, where I had a couple more beers, watched part of a gig by the impressively named "Fen Boy Three" (pretty decent band) then found myself an Indian restaurant for my default meal of samosas, chicken vindaloo and Naan bread. A taxi was taken back to the Travelodge, and a car was prebooked for the earlier start the next day.